A forest wedding

Beloftebos delivers another stunning, romantic, dreamy forest wedding.  Even with pumping winds, this venue never fails to deliver stunning weddings and you can go back time and time again ….and get completely different photography.  There is just so much on offer at this Hermanus venue.  Check out my previous forest weddings at Beloftebos!  Luckily there were no pumping winds that day!

ALAN & LEANNE

This special young couple touched me in so many ways.

The forces of nature aligned themselves to bring these two people together …and I know that sounds so melodramatic …but I firmly believe that is the truth!

They don’t agree on when they met …but one thing is for sure they started out as friends first …..and a beautiful love story developed!

Leanne knew that Alan wanted to travel but he hadn’t been able to do any because of his health. While Alan was in hospital recovering from a kidney transplant, Leanne organized some entertainment for his hospital stay. She made him a virtual trip – a set of envelopes to be opened each day which contained an itinerary, pictures and stories about different countries. Little did they know that they would end up doing the trip for real! They backpacked from Cairo to Cape Town visiting transplant recipients in African countries and documenting their stories along the way.

They continued a long distance friendship while Leanne went to Oxford to do her Masters in African Studies. In 2010 she came home to Cape Town to do fieldwork and to me this is where Nature aligned itsierelf ….and allowed this match that was written in the stars to happen.  And lets be honest …every love story can use a little nudge from Mother Nature herself.

While in Cape Town, the Icelandic volcano, Mount Eyiafiallajokull erupted and caused major havoc for airlines all over Europe and caused Leanne to remain here longer ….and a simple walk along a beach with a stolen sunset kiss …changed their destiny forever!  Since then ….”No mountain has been high enough, no valley has been low enough, no river wide enough to keep them apart”   Leanne has followed Alan to Switzerland and he followed her to West Africa, Oxford and Portugal where he romantically proposed to her on her grandparents orchard farm.

And then he proceeded to marry her three times!! They first got married in Portugal with just close family on her grandparents orchard farm. Then they had a civil ceremony in Switzerland …and a year later they came home to “marry” in front of all their friends and loved ones! Little did they know when they started to organize their beautiful Beloftebos forest wedding, that little Ella was going to make an appearance. But luckily she timed her appearance to perfection …and arrived 5 months before the planned celebration.  And to me she was an added bonus as what beautiful photographs she created! This has been my second wedding where the brides baby was part of the bridal party, check out Elizabeths wedding here!  Got to say ..I love a baby in the wedding photos …yes, we had to amend the timetable to suit Ella slightly as unknown to us all then she was coming down with flu and we all know a sick baby is not a happy baby …but even so …she was still an angel.  And waiting guests will always be patient if we send a message through that the wedding has been delayed because a baby needs to be soothed …so grab a drink ..have a chit chat …and it will happen when it is meant to happen …and it did …and I dont think anyone minded ….the men got to watch South Africa in the semi-final ….and Danica, the wonderful Beloftebos co-ordinator was able to dish up for the guests on time!  Knowing where to slow it down and calm everyone down ..and knowing where we can speed it up and catch up on time ….comes with experience …and before you know it …a glorious day is over in a flash!

There is so much that I admire about this young couple. They live outside most peoples comfort zone ….most transplant patients would be cautious I would imagine …but these two have grabbed life with both hands and are living it to the absolute fullest. Leanne has lived within tribes cut off from the cellular networks and been proposed to by African Kings …but her heart remained firmly in Alans hands. They have embraced that life is for living and to make the absolute most of it. One thing is for sure …Ella has an interesting life with her parents ..but one thing she will never be able to doubt is the absolute love that her parents have for her and each other.

And Hollywood needs to grab their story …it’s a perfect Love Story!

A special good luck wish for this beautiful bridesmaid, Chanelle who will be getting married herself, on my own wedding anniversary, this Saturday, 28th November!Time to wake up Ella!

Suppliers:-

Venue :  Beloftebos

Decor & Flowers :- Saffron Functions

Wedding Dress – Robyn Roberts Bridalwear

Make-up artist – Diana Asherson

The post Beloftebos forest wedding appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.

After meeting Chris at the shoot I did for Christine, I discovered that he is a genius with computers and so he became my very own “go-to-computer-guy” so when he asked if he could come and see me one day, I assumed that it was going to be a technical meeting regarding my computer!  But you could have knocked me over with a feather when they told me they were getting married in six weeks time and they wanted me to be their wedding photographer!   Luckily they decdided to get married on a weekday so even though the season was very busy I was able to say a resounding “Yes” !  And it meant that I would be back at the beautiful, rustic Beloftebos within three days!

There were so many reasons to celebrate that beautiful day!  Firstly, it was beautiful to see two lovely families work together on making this a very special wedding!  Secondly, it was also Christine’s 23rd birthday!  And thirdly, her new Sister-in-law ..although I think I really  should say her new sister , Julia, the most amazing creative girl, turned 21 as well!  Julia, did the brides hair and make-up, plus all the bridesmaids too ….she made the crown of flowers   …she did the artwork for the menu’s and chocolates  …she worked tirelessly and considering it was her very special birthday, not once did it become about her ….in fact I think it was the best birthday present for Julia to put her considerable talents to use with this beautiful wedding!    Chris’s, mom, Louise made Christines’ beautiful dress which I think suited her to perfection …it was utterly gorgeous!  Christine’s mom, Esther organised the whole wedding and pulled it all together in the time frame of six weeks ….just goes to show, that it can be done and still be absolutely beautiful!  This was truly a family affair ….every family member had a job to do …and it was absolutely special!  But I think most importantly ….this was truly a romantic wedding ….you could feel the love ….anyone that was at this wedding, left believing in fairytales …it was purely magical  I truly felt that I had read a gorgeous romance novel!

I would like to say a big thank you to both the Brand & Fourie Family for making Stella and myself feel so welcome!  Thank you for your wonderful hospitality!  And finally a big thank you to Stella Sassen for being my second shooter!

Part 2 is here!

My lovely couple, Chris & Christine would love to thank the following people!

Suppliers:
Our wedding was very family orientated and everyone was part of the planning. This made our wedding even more enjoyable!
Dress – Louise Fourie (Chris’s mom)
Hair, make-up, flower crown, stationery and basically everything – Julia Foruie (Chris’s sister)
Flowers – Bunches4Africa, Hannetjie Lammers and our whole family!
MC – Christi Thirion
Pastors – Chris-Johan Fourie and Tinus van Zyl
The big day – special thanks to our Brand parents for their support and making sure we had an unforgettable wedding!

 

The post Wedding – A romantic wedding to melt your heart @ Beloftebos – Part 1 appeared first on Jo Ann Stokes.